To get to know what motivates the band and about the band in general, I set some questions recently to Factory and their full interview can be found below:
A big thank you to Factory for taking the time to answer this, short but
hopefully insightful, interview. Firstly, introduce Factory’s band members and
what role does each person play in the band.
·
James
Shelley - Lead singer and rhythm guitarist.
·
Karl Richardson
- Lead guitarist.
·
Tony
Dainteth – Bass guitar
·
Benjamin
Worrall – Drums & percussion.
How did you all meet and how did Factory form?
Karl, Ben and Tony all knew each other through family and school etc.
they had been in a band for a couple of years, but were plagued by un-committed
front men. After their last sacking they decided to meet and discuss what was
next, Karl then suggested some local lad called James Shelley who he had met a
couple of times whilst on nights out, the band decided to bring him in for a ‘jam’.
After a few jam sessions with him they decided he was more than capable of
being the lead singer and so it was taken from there really. James had been
doing open mics all over the place and was looking to play in a band; so he was
made up.
What’s the story behind choosing Factory as a band name?
The name Factory was chosen for a few reasons, Runcorn is an industrial
town and has been ( and still is) littered with chemical plants and factories.
Factories in a way represent the ordinary working class, some of our granddads
helped build these factories, so for us to call ourselves Factory, it is simply
reflecting who we are and who we represent, ordinary working class people. You
don’t seem to get that nowadays, people like us don’t have a voice anymore.
Intelligent, Energetic, un-predictable.
Who writes
the songs in the band, what is the song writing process?
There isn’t any one songwriter really, we all write songs individually
(well, apart from Ben, but drummers don’t write songs, Phil Collins doesn’t
count). Most of our songs come from jams, Karl usually sparks it off with a guitar
riff, bass and drums shortly follow and James then joins in, adds melody whilst
ad -libbing some nonsense. Then, every now and then we decide we like a certain piece of music we had been playing,
we then collectively put our brains together, arrange the music a bit better an
add lyrics etc.
With blues rock being one of your chosen genres when performing, which
itself mostly has songs of lost love and relationships etc., what experiences
influences do you hone in on when creating songs?
There have been a few relationship break ups and all that with certain
band members, which obviously has an effect on some of the song writing, but
there are many other things that have gone on that we write about, usually
things that hold relevance an meaning to own lives.
Which of your songs is your favorite to play at gigs for the audience?
Which of your songs is your favorite to play at gigs for the audience?
Probably ‘Love Must Do’, which was our first demo (so give it a
listen!). It’s the sort of song that stops people in their tracks and amongst
all the chaos and the overdrive; it really opens up the set and allows people
to hear what we are capable of.
There are a few people really, more specifically and probably the main
man who helped us would be Rogue (I think his real name is James?). When we
first started out we had nowhere to practice, and rogue was caretaking an
abandoned hotel called The Weaver. Rogue gave us a key to the place and
basically told us we can come down and practice whenever we want, which was a
massive help to the band! But besides that rogue and his mates were always
coming in and listening to our songs and giving us confidence, so for that we
are eternally grateful. Unfortunately the weaver has gone now and we have had
to look elsewhere. Another person to mention is James’s granddad John. He has
effectively been managing the band lately, helping us to sort our sound and
performance out.
Make sure everyone in your band is committed; we had loads of problems
in the beginning due to idiots completely ignoring the band and swanning off
with their girlfriends. If they’re not in it 100%, sack em’. Because otherwise
you’ll waste 6 months and then sack them anyway. Another piece of advice would
be to find somewhere to regularly practice without interruption, once you find
somewhere make the most of it.
Does Factory have big plans for the year ahead and beyond?
Yes, we are currently trying to increase our set, record more demos,
play more gigs and build our ever growing fan base. As well as this we have
auditions with MAS records, so if that works out then this year will be great!
To follow and find out more about Factory visit the links below:
REVIEW: LOVE MUST DO
I first noticed that Factory's single release Love Must Do was something special as soon as I heard the atmospheric guitar going up and down the scale (reminiscent of Metallica's haunting intro to Nothing Else Matters) and the slight twinkle giving the song from the start a moody feel. The song, while starting off slow beefs up when the strong lead guitar kicks in and the raspy well sung vocals from James make their appearance. Full of edge and gritt both vocals and guitar suit each other well.
As the song amps up the intensity as it passes the mid mark it includes backing vocals which are well placed and fit the song greatly. Along with the lead, rhythm and raspy well sung vocals, it makes the song overall a well produced and enjoyable song to listen to.
Love Must Do is gritty blues rock full of emotion, which is hard to come by in recent months with blues rock bands such as The Black Keys opting to play more pop sounding songs. The song itself shows us that Factory knows which direction to head in, has the talent to pull it off and are definitely on the road to great things.
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